Wednesday, November 16, 2016

Your "Vision" Is Blinding You

One of the leadership traits I find most impressive is the ability to adapt and change. In politics you are vilified if you ever change your mind. It’s as if you’ve committed blasphemy!

In the real world however, a leader’s ability to see beyond the blinders of their passion, plans, and vision to see what they didn’t see previously is something special...

…and rare.

Keep Pushing

A quick example to illustrate my point. I’ve worked with many talented leaders over the years, and one of the most difficult barriers they’ve had to face is their own beliefs. One executive in particular was a huge boost of energy to the Nursing team. Her energy, commitment, and drive were exactly what the hospital needed.

Unfortunately, when it was time for her to adjust her approach based on a variety of political pressures (not the bad kind) she was unable to change. Her “vision” for what should be done blocked her ability to see what “needed” to be done.

Push and Pivot

The opposite, of course, is when humility, self-awareness, and classic big-picture thinking manifest themselves in real time. Another example...one of my original HR mentors, who was my boss at the time, was involved in a rollout of a new organizational policy.

The first round of meetings did not go well; but instead of shaking his head and lamenting that “employees just don’t understand that hard decisions have to be made” - he immediately called his team into his office to discuss the unintended (and missed) consequences of the policy.

We changed it.

On the spot.

How About You

Do you talk about your vision for your team, department, or organization? If so, that is fabulous, so many leaders can’t even articulate one! Just make sure that your strength does not become your weakness too.